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Traveling to the Big Top

The Phiarlan Carnival story arc is composed of quests that are fun and unique and include A Small Problem, Partycrashers, and The Snitch. The capstone to the story arc is a quest called Under the Big Top. Like the other quests in the series, Under the Big Top is a level 5 quest on heroic normal and level 20 on epic normal. The quest is unique in that it takes place entirely within a carnival setting and culminating in an end fight in the Big Top of the Traveling Troubadors.

Suppply making his way through the carnival.

Dealing with the tiefling tricksters.

In my opinion, the quest is medium in length, making it nice for a relatively quick run. As I mentioned previously, it occurs entirely within the a carnival back drop. The majority of beings you initially come across are disguised tieflings pretending to be various game promoters and vendors. Any actual patrons will immediately depart once the fighting begins and the charade is discovered. When you first enter the quest you approach the carnival from the outskirts. It doesn’t take long until you reach your first set of disguised tieflings and the fighting starts.

Are these disguised tieflings?

Preparing to deal with hell hounds balancing on balls of fire.

The enemies you encounter in Under the Big Top are primarily various forms of tieflings and hellhounds. The tieflings include Malefic strongmen, Malefic seers, Malefic knife throwers, Malefic firebreathers, Malefic illusionists, and Malefic trainers. The Malefic seers and illusionists can be extremely annoying, as these are the types of tieflings that are the arcane casters and clerics in the group. Other enemies include special zombies called magician assistants that only spawn once you liberate them from their containers. These containers are identified with numerous swords strewn through them. There are also a few other optional names that might appear: Herli’nak the Untamed (named hell hound), Kron’zek (named blue abishai), Maz’il’tilnik (named tiefling), and Yewil d’Phiarlan (charmed House P attendant).

Which way to go?

Looks like I came across a dead end, for a magician?

Battling a Malefic knife thrower.

Dealing with a named tiefling.

Still dealing with a named tiefling.

The carnival/fair grounds are divided into varies sections that are separated by special rune wheels called the “Wheels of ill fate.” To the lower the barrier from one section of the carnival to another you need to set the rune wheels on the right positions. Every time you turn the rune wheel you have the chance of activating a potent trap or for spawning a group of enemies. The traps associated with the rune wheels can be disabled, with the boxes sometimes being located in places a distance away from the rune wheel. Even with the rune wheels being disabled, you can still get random mob spawns when you turn the wheel. The runes to set the wheels are posted on various pillars in the carnival. Also, there are a few “high striker” games spread around the carnival that you can play for some other optional experience, although very minor. These games are based on a random roll to hit the high striker bell and when activated prompt the spawn of some tieflings and once they are defeated you get awarded the experience.

Coming up on a rune wheel of ill fate in the Big Top.

The path is now open.

Another blocked path, time to set some more wheels.

Wishing for some luck with the rune wheel.

Finding the runes to set the rune wheels.

Coming across a high striker game.

Here is another high striker.

Once you make your way through the carnival grounds, you finally come to the top of the midway and to the big top. Outside of the big top you will be encountered by a contingent of House P assassins. Of course they basically tell you that you were being used as a distraction so they could infiltrate the big top and defeat the leader, Malicia. Feeling a little annoyed, you agree to stand back and let House P handle the conflict to come in the big top. However, once you enter the big top itself, it doesn’t take long for Malicia to dominate these assassins and get them to attack you instead.

Making my way to the midway.

Wondering who set that rune wheel on fire.

Fighting above the carnival grounds.

So, the end fight essentially starts out with you fighting the contingent of House P assassins and then dealing with Malicia and her tiefling underlings. Halfway through the fight Malicia will call another group of tieflings to help her. Malicia herself is a succubus making this end fight quite interesting.

Suppply making his way to the Big Top.

Exploring the depths of the carnival grounds on the way to the Big Top.

Coming across the House P contingent.

Under the Big Top is fun quest and could be quite challenging to complete on elite without a trapper because of the rune wheels. It is a fun quest and can be completed relatively quickly. If you haven’t done this quest yet, I would recommend it. Thanks for reading everybody and happy hunting in the Big Top!!